Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the financial viability of rural schools in England.

The national funding formula includes support for schools in rural areas, and the sparsity factor allocates additional funding of £25 million specifically to remote schools. The formula also provides a lump sum of £110,000 for every school as a contribution to the costs that do not vary with pupil numbers. This aims to give schools certainty that they will attract a fixed amount each year in addition to their pupil-led funding.

When the lump sum is coupled with the sparsity factor, this provides significant support for small and remote schools that play an essential role in rural communities. A small, rural primary school eligible for sparsity funding will attract up to £135,000 in total through the lump sum and sparsity factors and a small secondary school will attract up to £175,000.

In addition, the formula has already allocated an increase for every pupil in every school in 2018-19, with increases of up to 3% per pupil for the most underfunded schools, including some in rural areas. In 2019-20, those schools that have been historically underfunded will see further gains of up to 3% per pupil, as the Department continues to make progress in addressing historic unfairness. Alongside this, the Department has been able to ensure that all schools will attract an increase of 1% per pupil by 2019-20, compared to 2017-18.